Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area

When I travelled through this area in the middle of August, and stayed in Marsing, ID, for a week I chose not to visit Snake River Birds of Prey NCA (SRBOPNCA) or the World Center for Birds of Prey.  I guess my mind was centered on getting to Malheur NWR, and battling off the construction worker at the campground.  :)  I later regretted not going to these two places that are so well known to birders.  Fast forward to being stuck at Camping World for the week, and it afforded me the opportunity to take care of that regret.

I packed a lunch this morning, and Emma and I headed out for SRBOPNCA.  The best time to be here is in the spring, but even with few if any birds of prey visible today, it was a great day trip.  I drove the 56 mile loop tour which began at the visitor’s center in Kuna, ID.  I had no idea there was a visitor’s center to begin with, and was just following a brown sign.  It turned out that the VC is only open on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, so I lucked out.  The woman inside was very helpful, and gave me the loop tour booklet.  That really helped since I didn’t know where I was going.  :)
Our next stop was at Dedication Point.  Emma and I took a half mile hike to the overlook of the Snake River Canyon.  What a view it was!  In spring, eagles, hawks, and falcons can be viewed hunting over the sage brush for squirrels and nesting on the rock ledges of the canyon.  The only thing in the air today was a noisy raven.
Then it was on to Three-Pole Pullout for more views in both directions of the canyon.  That’s the Swan Falls Dam in the right hand picture.  I wouldn’t want to do the drive from the top down to the dam with my rig, because I’m guessing the grade is more than 15%!  It’s a good road, but very very steep.
While at the top, I met a Harley lady from Boise.  She asked if I’d take a picture of her on her bike with the canyon in the background, and I said sure, just as long as you let me take a picture for my blog.  :)  She reminded me of Froggy Donna that some of you may know.   She had never been here before either, but had decided that today was too gorgeous of a day to be working, so took off on her bike.  She also gave me an idea for another nice road trip that Emma and I may take on Sunday.
Swan Falls Dam was built in 1901, and is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  In 1995, a new powerhouse was completed and the old historic powerhouses were renovated into a visitor/interpretive center.  Sorry to say, they are only open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and that’s by appointment only.  :(  See that long pole like thing sticking into the water on the left hand picture?  Well if you look closely at the right hand picture, I hope you can see that it is pulling up sea weed (I know you can’t have seaweed in a fresh water river, but I don’t know what else to call it…river yuck?) and piling it on the dock.  The bed of that truck was full of the green stuff!  I suppose this is done so it doesn’t clog up the turbines??
The other apparatus for doing this is a crane like machine that moves along railroad tracks along the dam.  You can see the mass of green plants in it’s claw. 

After the dam, we made our way back up the steep incline and headed for our last destination on the driving tour: Celebration Park.  It is Idaho’s only archaeological park, and I was hoping to see more petroglyphs.  Try as I might, I couldn’t find the park!  I had a map and followed it.  I turned right at the sign that pointed to Celebration Park, but the pavement ended at some BLM land.  I continued in but was soon in deep doo doo with my little car.  A pick up truck with high clearance and four wheel drive is the ticket for those gravel roads.  I reversed my direction as soon as possible and back tracked out of there.  I never did find the park or any more signs pointing the way.  :(  Too bad, because there’s supposed to be tours and presentations by staff members.
Thought I’d include a couple of pics of last night’s sunset in my present “campground”!  :)
You know who found something more interesting than the sunset on our walk last night.
Tomorrow, I think I’ll visit the World Center for Birds of Prey.  Emma will have to stay at home, as dogs aren’t allowed there. 

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy